Tan-vat



(No Model.)

G. RUEMELIN.

TANVAT. No. 276,634. Patented May 1,1883.

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N4 PETER Fhowgilhg n hur. Wu mo UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GUSTAV RUEMELIN, or MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN.

TAN-VAT.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 276,634, dated May 1, 1883. Application filed January 26, 1883. (No modelj To all whom it mag concern:

Be it known that I, GUSTAV RUEMELTN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Milwaukee, in the county of Milwaukee and State of Wisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Tan-Vats; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and

exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to letters or figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to improvements in vats for tanning leather; and it consists in the devices for conducting the tanning-liquor from the bottom of one vat to the top ot'another throughout all the vats in'a series.

My invention is further explained by refer ence to the accompanyingdrawings, in which- Figure 1 represents a vertical section. Fig. 2 is a top view.

Like parts are represented by the same reference-letters throughout the several views.

In the process of tanning hides it is desirable to subject them to a weak liquor first, and gradually to increase the strength of the liquor until the process is completed. In practice, however, it is common to make the liquor of uniform strength, and apply it first at full strength to hides which have been so far advanced in the process as to require liquor of full strength. The liquor, in passing through one vat of hides, is reduced in strength thereby, when it is of the required strength for the next preceding vat. I have therefore arranged the vats in a series, so that the liquor as it is reduced in strength will flow from the hides which are finished to those which have first been placed in the vats, so that by the time the liquor reaches the green hides, last introduced, it will become sufficiently reduced in strength as not to injure them. As the hides in the last vat are finished they are removed and the hides in the next succeeding vat are movedforwardinto it, and so on. All the hides in each vat are moved forward one vat at a time, from the first to the last vat in the series, every time a vat is emptied. The hides are first placed in vat A, and from thence moved forward to vats B O D E F G H I J. The liquidis first introduced into vat J, from whence it flows from one vat to another, as indicated by the arrows, until it reaches the vat A, the

liquor being so reduced in strength by the time it reaches such vat A that it is adapted, as stated, to the condition ofthe hides in their fresh state. Each vat in the series is provided with a pipe, K, reaching from its bottom to near its top. The upper ends ofthe respective pipes project through a closely-fitting hole in the partition between the vats, thus forming a duct through which the liquor passes from one vat to another. As the mouths of the respective pipes extend to near the bottom of the vats, it

is obvious that the liquor will rise in the pipe' as the vats are filled, and when the liquor reaches the level of the passage through the partition it will commence to flow from the bottom of one vat to the top of the next. The passagesthrough the partitions are formed successively lower from the first, J, to the last,

A, so that as the liquor is admitted into the first vat it will gradually find its way to the last, and will, as stated, be caused to pass in at the top and out at the bottom of the respectr GUST. RUEMELIJ.

Witnesses J AS. B; Eewuv, WM. J. SINNOTT. 

